A conservative Fox News contributor insisted on Monday that President Barack Obama had a “disdain” for women that he learned from his “Marxist” father and “communist” mentor.

Fox News contributor Sandy Rios, who is vice president of the conservative political action committee Family-PAC Federal, told host Sean Hannity that Obama did not disagree with CNN contributor Hilary Rosen’s assertion that Ann Romney had “never worked a day in her life.”

“His father was a Marxist, his mentor was Marxist,” Rios explained. “The Marxist theory on women is that they should work just like men. There’s a total dripping disdain for women who stay at home and take care of their children. … This is not an accident. This is what they believe. They hold people like Ann Romney and others of us that have stayed home with our children in complete disregard and disdain.”

“That is not what Barack Obama believes,” Democratic Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers disagreed. “You don’t know what you are talking about. You’re making up stuff.”

“Frank Marshall Davis was a communist, that was his mentor,” Rios replied. “His father was a Marxist.”

As Slate’s David Weigel noted last year, “Obama’s past and philosophy makes it very clear that he only read up seriously on socialism and Marxism when he got to Columbia.”

“There is no evidence that Obama ever read his father’s economic papers; if he did, it’s unclear how dense tracts about the problems of post-colonial Kenya would have influenced his thinking about American urban/class politics and economics.”

And contrary to Rios’ claims, Obama has spoken out against Rosen’s remarks, saying it was “the wrong thing to say.”

“It’s not something that I subscribe to,” the president told WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio last week.

About the Author

David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.